"We had it in our hands and we let it slip away," Nystrom said quietly, as he sat dejectedly in his locker.

Drafted 10th overall by the Flames in the 2002 NHL Draft, Nystrom had never scored more than twice in 457 career games.

"I've had some really bad luck this season so it's nice to be rewarded but at the same time, it really means nothing when it comes to a win and a loss," he said. "I'll take the win every day of the week."

Nystrom entered with one goal in his previous 19 games.

Monahan, the Flames 19-year-old rookie and leading scorer, beat Devan Dubnyk on a deke after Jiri Hudler scored in the shootout for Calgary and Roman Josi replied for the Predators to even it after three shooters.

"Huds came down and brought it to his backhand and something opened up so I tried to do the same thing and fortunately enough, I found a spot through his five hole," said Monahan, who says he enjoys having the game on his stick.

"It's pretty crazy. The crowd's pretty loud there. It's a little bit of pressure on you but as a hockey player, you've got to like being in those situations and that's something I like to do," Monahan said.

Reto Berra improved to 4-0 in shootouts this season as he sprawled to get a pad on shot from Ryan Ellis.

Nashville moved within seven points of one of the two wild-card spots in the Western Conference.

David Jones scored twice, and Mark Giordano and Mikael Backlund also scored for Calgary. The Flames have now won two straight for the first time in over a month.

The Flames trailed 3-1 entering the third period but got back to within one on Jones' first goal in 18 games at 1:24.

After Nystrom restored the two-goal cushion, redirecting Matt Cullen's shot through the pads of Berra at 10:47, the Flames answered less than two minutes later with Backlund deflecting in Kris Russell's point shot for Calgary's third power-play goal.